Why Have Auto Insurance in Texas You Ask?
Why should you have auto insurance in Texas you ask? Everyone who owns a vehicle should have auto liability insurance for the simple fact, it will pay for the damage you or your vehicle does in the event of an accident, up to a certain amount of course. Not to mention the fact that liability auto insurance is required by law in Texas.
The State of Texas requires a minimum auto liability coverage amount of $30,000/$60,000/$25,000.
What does this mean?
The first two numbers involve payout by the insurance company for Bodily Injury.
$30,000 is the amount paid by the insurance company for bodily injury caused by you; this is the amount Per Person. The $60,000 number is the maximum amount of bodily injury payout per accident.
The last number $25,000 covers damage to property caused by you in an accident, please be aware, this doesn’t cover your property that was damaged i.e. your vehicle.
Also keep in mind that these are minimum amounts of liability insurance required by Texas law. Nothing says you can’t increase your coverage amounts. If you were unfortunate enough to cause a multi-vehicle accident and were found at fault, would $25,000 be enough to cover all the damage that you caused? Can you afford to pay for any of the damage over and above $25,000 out of pocket? Think of the time and expense of defending yourself in a lawsuit, these are just some of the reasons to have liability insurance.
Ask your agent about recommended coverage, and save yourself a lot of headaches in the event of an unfortunate auto accident.
We all know that with a state mandated increase in coverage minimums, so comes the increase in premiums. Let’s hope that with the increased premiums comes increased customer service from the insurance companies, I guess we will see!
I know I sleep better at night knowing I have the minimum required insurance required by Texas…and then some.
Auto Insurance in Texas, are the minimum coverage amounts keeping up?
It seems that as the premiums for auto insurance in Texas go higher, the payouts stay at the minimum amounts, but does that keep up with the cost of auto repairs and medical expenses?
Although the number of car accidents is not changing dramatically, medical bills, from collision are going up. This has brought about new Texas auto insurance minimums effective January 1st 2011.
Drivers and vehicle owners in the state are now required to purchase bodily injury liability coverage with minimum amount of $30,000 for an injured person and with a minimum amount of $60,000 per accident. The increase in the minimum amount of liability coverage per person is $5,000 or 20%. The increase in the minimum liability coverage per accident is $10,000, which is also 20%.
Insurance specialists say that these new Texas auto insurance coverage amounts have resulted in an increase in the car insurance premiums of approximately 2%-3%. While not a huge increase in premiums, its still worth shopping around for the best auto insurance prices in Texas. As with the auto insurance industry , those with better driving histories will pay less than those with bad driving records, up to 7% more.
Luckily Texas auto insurance prices fell by around 16% in 2010. This means that even with the new increase of up to 3% or 7.6% respectively, The price of auto insurance in Texas hasn’t risen all that much.
Estimates say that the lowest average price of an auto insurance policy in Texas would be around $450,with such a policy, you will be able to meet the Texas car insurance regulations and register your vehicle. Even though the$450 premium price is affordable to most people, most drivers and car owners in the state will probably pay over three times more than the lowest possible amount. Just another reason to shop around for the best possible premium price for auto insurance in Texas! And as you shop around check into the available discounts such as safe vehicle discounts, safe driver discounts and even senior citizens discounts. Sometimes even good students can get a discount.
Even though the premium price has gone up, It may not be wise to raise your deductible to lower the premium price, unless you are financially able to cover the deductible in case of an accident or insurance claim.
You are required by law to have Auto Insurance in Texas, you are not required to pay out the nose for that same insurance, shop around for the best quotes, use all available discounts and drive safely and defensively. These tip should help you to get and keep the price of your auto insurance in Texas down to an affordable price.